Bottle-stopper.



Patented lan. 29, |90I.

.l. STEINBERG. BOTTLE -STOPPEB (Appleatimi med-sept; 22. 1900.)

TIE-H- imm JACOB STEINBERG, OF MCKEESPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

BOTTLE-STOPPER.

PECFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 666,91 l, dated January 29, 1901.

Application tiled September 22, 1900. Serial No. 30,786. (No model.)

T0 rif/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, JACOB STEINBERG, a citizen oi" the United States, residing at Mc- Keesport, in the county ofV Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bottle-Stoppers; and I do hereby declare the following` to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to expansible stoppers for bottles; and its object is to provide a stopper which will perfectly close the mouths of bottles which vary somewhat in size and yet be easily inserted into or removed therefrom.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming a bottle-stopper hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a top view of a bottle having one of my Stoppers in service. Fig. II shows a central vertical section of a bottle-neck, illustrating my invention4 Fig. III is a perspective view of the expanding-plug. Fig. IV is a perspective view ot' the rubber packing.

Numeral 5 represents the neck of a bottle, and 6 the usual lip at its mouth.

7 is a packing of soft rubber or other similarly-elastic cushion-like material of a size to easily enter the neck of the bottle, and S is a liange around the upper end of the packing to rest on top of the bottle when in service. This packing is shaped verymuch like a closed-ended thimble. 9 is the expander. It is usually made of sti material-such as brass, iron, tin, celluloid, papier-mch, rubber, dac-having but little elasticity. This expander is hollow and is internally threaded at l0 to receive a tapering screw 1l. It has also one or more slits l2 down its body to permit it to expand as the tapering screw ll is screwed down into it.

13 represents the head of the screw. This head is much broaderl than the mouth of the bottle and is knurled around its edge to enable the operator to grasp it firmly with his thumb and iinger in operating the screw. The under face of the screw-head is annularly recessed to receive the danged head 8 of the packing.

The packing has an inward ange 14c to rest on top of the expander 9 to insure the withdrawal of the packing with the rest of the stopper when it is removed from the bottle. The expander has to be pushed with some force to make it enter the small mouth and pass through the flange 14 of the packing to its normal position wholly inside of the packing, as shown in Fig. II, and it contracts forciby upon the expander, so that even though the latter were made of nonelastic materal it would be compressed iirmly against the screw.

To operate this stopper, turn the screw outward until the stopper will enter the bottleneck freely. Press it down with the flange 8 close on top of the bottle and then turn the screw inward until it is tirm. expander 9 within the packing 7 and forces the latter into close contact with the neck of the bottle. It it should happen that the flange 8 rests firmly on top of the bottle before the packing is expanded to a close Iit within the neck, the further turning of the screw will draw the expander and packing out until the expansion renders the stopper so tight that the screw will not turn farther. Thus the screw and the expander may both be metal, and yet, being cushioned by the intermediate packing of soft material, they do not endanger the glass bottle, and a close joint is doubly insured by expansive compression of the neck-packing in the throat and by direct compression of the flange-packing on top of the bottle. If the screw be turned outward until it is a little loose, the stopper will have contracted so that it may be easily withdrawn from the bottle.

The taper of the screw ll may be sufficient to enable a small expander and packing to lill bottle-necks varying considerably in the sizes of their throats, and by using packings oi' different thicknesses the same screw and expander will answer fora still greater range of sizes in throats. The packing being closed at its inner end prevents contact between the contents of the bottle and the metallic portions of the stopper. Furthermore, the expander and the screw, with its cap, might all be made of hard rubber, papier-mch, or other suitable material to avoid injury by or to the contents of the bottle.

The top of the cap may be stamped with This opens the.

IOO

by Letters Patent, is the following:

l. In bottle-Stoppers, a hollow expander of stiff material slotted down a portion of its length and internally screw-threaded; a tapering screw t0 en gage the screw-th read in the expander, and a packing of cushion-like material surrounding the expander and closed at its lower end and having a flange at its upper end extending inward over the expander, substantially as described.

2. In bottle-Stoppers, a hollow expander of stiff material slotted down a portion of its length and internally screw-threaded; a tapering screw fitting the said thread, and a packing of soft cushion-like material snrrounding the expanderand closed atits lower end and having an inward flange extending: over the expander, and an outward ange spreading' on top of the bottle; the said screw having,r a head annularlyreeessed in its under side, whereby both of the Said anges of the cushion are con fined to their Work, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JACOB STEINBERG.

Witnesses:

R. HARRY JOHNSON, MARY E. KELLY. 

